Sir Egrette’s arrival, while too late to confront the spider, orthros or sirens, was quite well timed with the work done in the fort. Judd and his companions had reached a stage where they could not do much more without making long term plans.
Egrette decided to leave his captain and half his soldiers behind to protect the fort and the village. With Cleric Elde able to assist the captain, the knight decided that there was enough life and structure to keep the fort running, at least until he’d heard from King Rocheveron.
“Honestly the king doesn’t really know what goes on down this far south,” Sir Egrette said to Judd as they left the village, waving farewell to several of the children before they ran off to play with the grey dog that was happy to have company and food once more, “but that’s hardly his fault. Astaril is where he resides and it is the crowning jewel of Terra. But the southern forts, where shield meets monster and sword meets beast…that’s the real struggle, the endless struggle, of our world.”
“You really think King Rocheveron would consider Fort Sol a lost cause?” Judd asked as they marched down the slope cut through the grey stone, the water of the channel seen from so great a height and it sparkled with innocent bliss.
“Prior to this occurrence, I would have sworn Fort Callain was more than adequate to keep an eye on the channel but clearly, I was wrong.” Sir Egrette remarked and Judd liked how he was willing to admit he was not always right. “Sir Bobellion should have done more and sooner but that is usually the case in rear reflection. He probably didn’t want to lose face asking for help to defend his fort from a two headed dog.”
The sun was brightly shining, the gloomy clouds dispersed since the heavy rainfall. New growth was popping up all over the land and instead of being coloured grey, it was bright and green with small buds of yellow and white flowers appearing. Judd glanced at Aalis, hoping she was enjoying the restored land. She was walking quietly, her eyes lowered and her head down, her hair completely covered. She did not want to draw attention to herself and Judd understood her fear.
Sir Egrette was one of the famous southern knights. His deeds were so impressive that Giordi would need an hour to sing about all of them, especially with the way he liked to dramatize the telling. Egrette’s crest was of a hawk in flight and his soldiers, while good on the ground, were rumoured to be such great archers that they could pierce a hawk through the heart even at the dizzyingly high heights they flew.
Judd found it difficult to talk to Egrette. On one hand he almost wanted to pounce on him and ask a thousand questions about his battles, his tactics and beg for stories of his conquest of the griffin incursion a decade ago and how he routed a goblin stronghold almost singlehandedly. On the other hand, he was quite intimidated. The festival of Maul that was held in Astaril did not just highlight the monsters that seethed and writhed on the southern side of the wall, but also the knights who kept the wall intact and chased down anything that managed to get through. Sir Egrette was one of the four knights and Judd had, much to his embarrassment now, pinched posters from the festival streets, each one displaying a different knight or their crest, and plastered them on the walls of his room. He had read every book on all the grand things the knights had ever done. He knew everything about Sir Egrette, probably even more than the knight knew about himself. He was old enough to be Judd’s father. Egrette had a son, Judd’s age, who lived in Astaril with his uncle and was almost always talked about as being as headstrong and headline making as his father, though perhaps not always for the best reasons.
So it was hard to know how to be around him.
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The younger Judd, the giddy child wanted to be clinging and cloying.
The slightly older Judd was as awkward as an adolescent asking a girl if she would like to hold hands.
Middle ground seemed to be the way to go but unfortunately it seemed to be a pendulum swing. One moment he was chirpy and lively and the next he was quietly reserved as he tried to figure out something to say that would dazzle the knight. Perhaps the extremes were avoided but Judd still struggled to find a balance between talking loud and fast to not talking at all.
But even in the midst of Judd’s adoration, he also recalled Sir Egrette’s merciless stance on witches.
He didn’t tolerate them at all. Tainted water was an unending problem so far south so the knights of the wall forts had to become calloused and unyielding when following through on the culling of witches.
At the base of the slope, Sir Egrette and his soldiers kept up such a sharp pace that Judd and his companions almost had to jog to keep up. Thankfully a horse, which had been found roaming the fields, avoiding being eaten, had been hitched to a cart filled with beams, rope, barrels and everything else needed to build a new ferry. Into the cart also went their packs so at least they weren’t weighed down but by the time they reached the ferry house, they were exhausted.
“We’ll cross…in the…morning…” Judd wheezed and Sir Egrette laughed.
“Once you and your party cross the channel, we’ll draw the ferry back and construct a sturdier ferry and just bolt the wheel from the first onto the new base. That will make getting reinforcements to the isle easier and, if Fort Sol is decommissioned, we will be able to relocate the villagers.”
Egrette had learned that Judd’s party included a cook so there seemed to be no way for Aalis not to be the centre of attention that evening as she was prevailed upon to make them supper. She kept her head down and the handkerchief covering her hair was firmly pinned into place. Her belts of pouches and medicinal herbs tied to them were hidden in her pack. Judd felt awful but he didn’t know how to shield her.
Egrette swore softly and stood up from the table. “That was mighty fine. Hey, I’ll have more of that if there is any.” Egrette waved his bowl in the air. Judd watched as Aalis faltered and went to stand up.
“I’ll get it for you…”
“Let the woman serve the men. It’s what they do.” Egrette held the bowl out, his arm extended so Aalis quickly took it and filled it back to the brim. Nervously she approached the table and put it down in front of him. One of the soldiers winked at Aalis and her blush was one of nervousness instead of pleasure. Egrette caught the man’s display and looked at Aalis who was standing beside him. “Well, aren’t you rather pretty?” Judd’s throat tightened as Egrette’s, and everyone else’s, full attention was on Aalis. “My, my…I should throw you over my shoulder and carry you back to Fort Callain with me…but to be honest, I’m not sure where I’d put you. In the kitchen or the bedroom.”
Aalis flushed bright red and Egrette laughed as though he had been incredibly witty and turned back to his meal. Aalis escaped to the kitchen and then, when she hoped no one was looking, she fled outside.
She closed the door behind her and let out a shaky breath.
“Charming, aren’t they?” Verne remarked from her lean against the side of the ferry house.
“Ugh…” Aalis shuddered. “In the kitchen or the bedroom…”
“Who said that?”
“Egrette.”
Verne shook her head. “I’m relieved they think I’m male.”
Aalis smiled. “Maybe I should cut all my hair off too…although yours is growing.”
Verne tugged on a strand of hers. “I’ll have to have a go at it with a blade soon.”
“I would not concern yourself.” Aalis took off her shoe and tapped it, sand trickling out of it. “It is all quite uneven so it appears jagged and certainly not feminine.”
“You mean, unlike your dreadlocks?” Verne chuckled.
Aalis laughed and nodded. “Yes…”
“Well, I’m going to go to sleep. That way I won’t have to listen to them brag about all the women they’ve bedded.” Verne yawned. “You coming in?”
“In a minute. I have a stubborn stone in my shoe.”
“Alright.” Verne went inside and Aalis leaned against the ferry house and peered into her shoe before giving it one sharp bang on the wall and a tiny pebble flew out.
“Thank goodness.” Aalis breathed and lifted her foot to brush the sand from her toes. Her heart did a double jump in her breast and her spine trembled in horror.
Two of her toenails had turned a green so dark they were almost black.